Restaurants worth treating as occasions — Where going out is still a treat. By Ian Pike It’s not news, but it’s love — Critics have to eat even when they’re not critiquing. By Ambrose Martin …

Guitarist/singer Julia Shapiro, guitarist Lydia Lund, bassist Annie Truscott, and drummer Gretchen Grimm formed Chastity Belt mostly for laughs at Whitman College, then moved to Seattle and got serious. They visit the Casbah on Wednesday, …

Retraction The July 28 Neighborhood News column included an article (“Tasting Rooms, Breweries Blamed for Problems”) that misinterpreted last year’s data and erroneously concluded that a 400-percent increase in alcohol-related crime in Ocean Beach was …

Mysteriously, prosecutors who were seeking a $562 million fine against Pacific Gas & Electric for its role in the 2010 San Bruno explosion, yesterday (August 2) backed away while the jury was still deliberating. Hours …

Kelsey Gonzalez Age: 25 Hometown: Point Loma Favorite Surf Spot: Old Man’s, Pacific Beach Kelsey Gonzalez is moving to Texas in one week. She is trying to get into the water as much as possible. …

Jerik Centeno of Small Culture moved to San Diego three years ago to pursue a career in audio production. “All through high school [in Kau’i] all I wanted to do was record and mix bands. …

San Diego’s ethics commission, its enforcement count already falling like a rock, has come under fire by the county grand jury for being overly subject to political influence. In 2012, according to the grand jury’s …

"Where are we?” I really want to know. Lord knows I’ve bounced by here often enough in the #30 bus. Mike and his lady Rachel and me and a dozen other people are sitting on …

APGAR When you were born, you didn’t make a sound until they put you on the warming table, cold chick, bluish and mute. The reddened gowns the nurses wore were soaked as in some fable …

“The album took over eight years to complete,” says Matt Rhea of the Manganista’s upcoming full-length, Shooting at the Big Bang Seams. “What seemed like a good idea four or five years ago didn’t always …

Hershey Felder plays Leonard Bernstein in Maestro, a one-man show about music and love told through the life events of the composer/conductor. I had heard of Mr. Felder’s one-man shows based on Beethoven, Gershwin, Chopin, …

All Souls’ Episcopal Church Membership: 400 Pastor: Father Joseph Dirbas Age: 49 Born: Lavonia, MI Formation: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church, NY Years Ordained: 6 San …

In 2013, James Schamus was given, as he puts it, “the privilege and the luxury of being fired from my studio job in late middle age.” (The job was CEO of Focus Features.) “So I …

August produce isn’t looking a lot different from July, but that’s great news, since San Diego’s in peak season for some of our region’s best loved fruits and vegetables, including heirloom tomatoes, chili peppers, melons …

Amid a vibrant social dining scene like ours, it’s easy to take restaurants for granted. Their very existence becomes a matter of convenience. We are either too busy or too lazy to cook, and keeping …

Guitarist Bill Reynolds of the garage-surf band Lo-Fi Nipple describes how they prepared for this Saturday's show at Strangers in El Centro. “We sent them a box of CDs to give out before we got …

Beds: 7 Baths: 7 Current Owner: Burma Bigz Ranch LLC List Price: $10,000,000 The amenities at 230 Burma Road in the inland North County community of Fallbrook, listing materials promise, make up “one of the …

A few months teaching English in Colombia did little to prepare me for the elaborate linguistic pozole that stews in the streets of Tijuana. When I moved south of the fence three years ago, I …

Unlike most of Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, the trees that enhanced the beauty of this park were not heavily damaged or destroyed on the peninsula in Lake Cuyamaca by the 2003 Cedar Fire. As a …

A 1972 state proposition mandated a public walking path spanning the California coast, but to this day the trail has not been finished. To raise awareness of the need for improvements, marine scientists and trail …

Could there be classier places than the ones on this list? For sure. Cheaper? Yes. Cooler? Of course. But the places I find myself going back to have this human thing going on. They’re small, …

Dear Hipster:How stoked are you for the Olympics?— Seth The only thing that would make me happier than the extinction of the Olympics would be the simultaneous extinction of the Olympics and the Kings of …

I’ve moved around my entire life, so my memories are loaded with the kind of special meal you associate with a meaningful person, place, or time. Some of the special meals I’ve chosen remind me …

For the initial southward migration of anglers into Baja, those in search of trophy fish usually bypassed San Quintín, known as a windy and coolish place with sand dunes between rocky escarpments dotted with shallow …

I love crushes. I get crushes on television shows, on singers, on colors, cookbooks, chefs, and, of course, food. My longest food crushes are enduring passions for buttered popcorn and marshmallow Peeps (nobody’s perfect), and …

Yeah, that’s his real name. Kurt Samuel Vile, from Philadelphia, fronts a psych-pop band called the Violators and he plays his guitar with banjo-like sincerity. That was his first stringed instrument, the banjo, and he …

Take an all-expenses paid trip to Shanghai and stay in the 307-room state-of-the-art Hyatt Andaz overlooking the city’s skyline. Follow it up with a two-night stay at the Four Seasons Hotel perched above Boston’s Public …

As a critic, you eat for your readers. It’s not enough to enjoy, say, a burger and tell folks, “It was yummy!” You have to judge the grind, the pack, the cooking, the seasoning, the …

The revolving door between San Diego’s city hall and big business spins on under mayor Kevin Faulconer, with Republican aide Jaymie Bradford heading off to become vice president of public policy and economic research for …

Being both Mexican and American did nothing to prepare me for the bizarre life at the border. Mastery of Spanish did little to help understand the complexities of Tijuana. In this city, cultures clash, streets …

While I enjoy trying new places, I still tend to gravitate toward the familiar. I don’t want to have to guess whether a restaurant will have friendly service, a comfortable space, and satisfying food — …

San Diego has always had the makings of a food mecca, but it’s only been in, say, the past decade that a majority of citizens have decided they don’t want to settle for an average …

Martha Awdziewicz, Clairemont, 3. L. Barling, El Cajon, 3. Evelyn Bowser, Hillcrest, 3. (winner!) John Bruno, Escondido, 3. Dennis Butterworth, San Diego, 3. Chris Byzewski, San Diego, 3. Joseph Ciprian, Little Italy, 3. Allan Dorfman, …

Evil Bliss Beedle, Encinitas, 3. Joseph Ciprian, Little Italy, 3. Alford Claibone, San Diego, 3. Patrick Driscoll, Santee, 3. Rafael Gaceta, San Diego, 3. Butch Hays, La Mesa, 3. Ralph Levy, La Jolla, 3. Larry …